Beast, the fintech collaboration platform of Bank of East Asia (BEA), will organise its first fintech day in October, as part of its efforts to develop a technology ecosystem in Hong Kong, according to a senior executive.
The inaugural Beast fintech day will be held during Fintech Week from October 28 to November 1, bringing together start-ups, banking and technology firms and allowing them to exchange views via panel discussions at the BEA Tower in Kwun Tong.
“As we celebrate the second anniversary of Beast, we are thrilled to host our first fintech day to further reinforce our position as a ‘superconnector’ in the fintech ecosystem,” said Stephen Leung, group chief information officer at BEA.
“We aim to foster valuable collaboration and win‐win scenarios for banks, start-ups and customers.”
BEA, Hong Kong’s oldest family-run bank, set up Beast in 2022 to help start-ups explore various fintech solutions for the banking sector. Start-ups working with Beast can get up to HK$300,000 (US$38,462) of grant to develop fintech ideas while also getting to use the co-working office space in BEA Tower for free.
Since inception, Beast has worked with more than 70 companies to develop over 120 fintech concepts, with 30 successfully implemented by BEA and other lenders. The projects were focused on regulation, payment, Web3, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI).
Miles Wen, co-founder and CEO of Fano Labs, a Hong Kong start-up specialising in using AI for developing customer services and compliance needs, said he found the Beast platform extremely helpful for its development.
“Working with the Beast team was an invaluable experience, which allowed us to deeply understand the needs and expectations from a bank’s perspective,” Wen said. “This will support our future collaborations with other customers and help us contribute to the development of the fintech industry in Hong Kong.”
Another unit of the Beast was set up in Qianhai last October, ahead of the bank’s opening of the regional headquarters in the free-trade zone in January this year.
“The Beast in Qianhai can help link up start-ups and the banking sector in the Greater Bay Area, which is going to be an important development region [for the industry],” Leung said. It can help develop solutions to support cross-border transactions and other banking services in the bay area, he added.
Leung said the Beast’s initiatives are in line with the efforts of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to promote the development of fintech. The city’s de facto central bank launched the Faster Payment System in 2018 and followed it up with the introduction of eight virtual banks in 2020 to promote the adoption of fintech by the banking sector to improve customer services and enhance operational efficiency.
“Traditionally, a bank would need a long time on its own to develop a new fintech application, but now Beast can encourage start-ups and other global partners to develop such a technology in a speedier manner and tailor it to the bank’s needs,” he said.
Besides local start-ups, Beast is also working with partners from the UK, US, Israel and mainland China.
One of them is Silverfort, an Israeli cybersecurity company, which was introduced to Beast by the Israeli consul general’s office. The firm uses AI-powered tools to detect and prevent identity‐based breaches and helps BEA with the account authentication process.